Joey Chestnut’s hot-dog-eating reign ends, but Matt Stonie keeps title in San Jose

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NEW YORK, NY – JULY 4: Matt Stonie defeats Joey Chestnut after eating 62 hot dogs at The Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog-Eating Contest in Coney Island, New York, on July 4, 2015. The contest is an annual Fourth of July tradition. (Photo by Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images)

San Jose folk hero Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, of record-breaking hot-dog-eating fame, was forced to swallow defeat for the first time in nine years when he lost Saturday’s annual Nathan’s Famous wiener-guzzling fete at New York’s Coney Island.

But the coveted mustard-yellow title belt will remain in the city it has called home for nearly a decade: Fellow San Jose resident Matt “Megatoad” Stonie, all of 23 years old and for the past few years playing the Rocky Balboa role to Chestnut’s Apollo Creed, bested the longtime champ by gobbling 62 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes at the preeminent Fourth of July eating competition.

Chestnut was on Stonie’s heels but ultimately could down only 60, though he still holds the all-time record of 69 from 2013.

Still, both San Jose eaters proved to be in an entirely different league than their competition: The third-place winner ate 32 hot dogs.

Upon emerging triumphant — after placing second last year and eliciting comparisons by this newspaper to the contentious quarterback transition between San Francisco 49ers legends Joe Montana and Steve Young — Stonie raised his fist in the air to usher in a potential new era.

“I trained hard for this. This is actually amazing,” Stonie told ESPN, which broadcast the competition live, like any other major sporting event its fans say it has become.

Chestnut, smiling in defeat, said he was slow and couldn’t catch Stonie. The reigning champ seemed to have a slight edge early on, but Stonie moved ahead after several minutes and seemed to be slowly extending his lead until the final bell.

“I’ve been looking for competition for a long time and I finally have it,” Chestnut said, vowing to return next year for what could become a highly anticipated rubber match. “He made me hungry.”

It has been rough stretch for the 31-year-old Chestnut, who has been the hot-dog-eating king since 2007. Upon winning last year’s competition, he publicly proposed to his girlfriend, also a competitive eater from San Jose. But they ended their relationship weeks before their wedding date, citing a hectic competition schedule.

Stonie, a San Jose native and Evergreen Valley High School alum, set on his path to glory in 2010 after winning a lobster roll eating contest in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, where his family has vacationed in the summer. After his win, Stonie decided to turn his hobby into something more serious.

“It was one of those things that interested me, and I was like ‘Hey, maybe I should look more into this as a casual thing,'” he said in the 2012 interview with the San Jose Mercury News. “I’m a really competitive person, and I wanted to compete with the best people.”

A year after winning his first amateur title, Stonie registered with Major League Eating so he could participate in sanctioned competitions around the world, chowing down on everything from shrimp won tons to buffalo chicken wings.

While some parents might disapprove of professional gluttony, Stonie’s parents, Cathy and Dorian Stonie, wholeheartedly support their son’s ambitions. They believe that his knowledge of nutrition — he attended Santa Clara’s Mission College as a nutrition major with dreams of becoming a dietitian — actually helps him train efficiently.

“As part of his competitive eating, he really watches what he eats,” his mother said in the 2012 interview. “He controls everything. He can recite all of this (nutrition) information off of the back of his hand.”

In the women’s competition, defending champion Miki Sudo captured first place with a flourish that emphasized strategy rather than condiments. The Las Vegas woman ate 38 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes to claim the title for the second straight year, along with the corresponding $10,000 prize.

That was four more wieners than last year and comfortably ahead of Sonya “Black Widow” Thomas of Alexandria, Virginia, who devoured 31 hot dogs. Sudo employed a successful strategy of eating the hot dogs separately from the buns and swallowing the buns after first dipping them in Crystal Light.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact Robert Salonga at 408-920-5002. Follow him at Twitter.com/robertsalonga.

Robert Salonga is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter covering crime and public safety for The Mercury News. A San Jose native, he attended UCLA and has a Master's degree in journalism from the University of Maryland. He previously reported in Washington, D.C., Salinas and the East Bay, and is a middling triathlete. Reach him the low-tech way at 408-920-5002.

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